(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compiler, and more particularly, to a compiler converting a source program in a high-level language to a register transfer level (RTL) description described in hardware description language.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In designing hardware by using a source program as input described in an existing programming language, a particular hardware module (a particular hardware module to realize a specific processor and input/output interface), which is indescribable by the language directly, exists. Conventionally, whether or not a particular hardware module in the source program exists needs to be judged by an intermediate code being converted from the source program.
On the other hand, in developing software using an existing programming language as input, a method of generating a specific operation instruction using a function is known. (e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent application No. 2000-56981). However, this sort of method has not been known in hardware designing yet.
As mentioned above, in designing hardware using an existing programming language as input, the existence of a particular hardware module, which is indescribable by the language directly, is judged by an intermediate code. However, judging the existence of a particular hardware module is difficult, therefore, an inefficient circuit such as unfavorably large circuit area might be formed. And the method disclosed in the Japanese Laid-Open Patent application No. 2000-56981 does not premise the hardware designing, and hence the method is not substantially applicable to the hardware designing, since the optimization of such as circuit area is not considered.